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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25792057">A Brother's Place</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctuary_for_all/pseuds/sanctuary_for_all'>sanctuary_for_all</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Love Languages [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Old Guard (Movie 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Established Relationship, Feels, Gen, If you need proof of how much they love each other look at those hugs in the beginning, Immortal family, M/M, emotional hurt comfort, i made myself cry writing this</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-05 09:13:46</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,419</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25792057</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/sanctuary_for_all/pseuds/sanctuary_for_all</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Andy sighed then, leaning more heavily against the railing. “You’re not going to let me indulge my stoic act anymore, are you?” (Set some time after the movie)</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Andy | Andromache of Scythia &amp; Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani, Andy | Andromache of Scythia &amp; Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Everyone &amp; Nile Freeman, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Love Languages [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1867204</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>35</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>769</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>A Brother's Place</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This isn't narratively reliant on the other two, but in my head it's still set that night or the one after that. I probably shouldn't have even written it, but the fact that Andy hadn't even gotten a LINE in this series so far was making me crazy.</p><p>Note: Small tweak has been made thanks to inspiration from <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/dbakeiro/pseuds/dbakeiro">dbakeiro</a></p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Nicky had slept lightly long before his first death, a habit that had only grown stronger with the centuries. He also preferred to sleep with the bedroom door open, in those circumstances where there was such a thing between him and the main entry. Even a few extra seconds of warning were sometimes enough to save you a great deal of pain.</p><p>Now, they were enough to let him hear the quiet sounds of distress from the bedroom next to theirs, the word “Booker” said with such pain as to more than make up for its lack of volume. He’d barely had time to open his eyes before it was replaced by the sound of movement, and Nicky stayed exactly where he was as he traced the sounds of footsteps in the hallway. He half expected for them to immediately be followed by the sound of the apartment door opening, but instead he heard the sliding door that let out onto the balcony.</p><p>When he heard that door close again, Nicky quietly slipped out of bed himself. That was when Joe stirred, catching Nicky’s shirt and looking up at him with a questioning expression in his still sleep-blurred eyes. Joe actually slept more deeply now than he did when they first met, but movement from Nicky was enough to pull him out of the deepest sleep. “What is it?”</p><p>Nicky leaned forward to pull him closer for a moment, pressing a quick kiss against his forehead. “Nothing, vita mia. I am simply checking on Andy.”</p><p>Suddenly Joe was far more awake, pain welling up in his eyes. Booker had said that Joe could never understand loss, but he had never heard Joe talk about his mother and sisters. “Should I…”</p><p>Nicky shook his head, smoothing a hand over Joe’s curls. Andy may have preferred Joe’s company to Nicky’s in that moment, but it was Nicky’s job to spare his love whatever pain he could.</p><p>Even if that meant the pain of someone they both loved almost as dearly. “I am sure it’s nothing. But I will not be able to sleep unless I know for sure.”</p><p>Joe nodded, laying back down, but Nicky could feel Joe’s eyes still on him as he left the room. He slipped outside onto the balcony, silently moving to stand next to Andy at the railing. They stayed that way for a long moment, watching the movements of Munich in the darkness.</p><p>Finally, Andy shook her head a little. “A coughing mouse would be enough to wake you up,” she murmured ruefully.</p><p>The corners of Nicky’s mouth flickered upward. “If that mouse was in distress, I suspect it would.”</p><p>She sighed then, leaning more heavily against the railing. “You’re not going to let me indulge my stoic act anymore, are you?”</p><p>Nicky’s chest tightened. “I shouldn't have let you indulge so much over the last 500 years.” He laid a hand against her back. “We know that you are strong, Andy. But you must allow us to cherish you.” <em>Especially now</em> hung in the air between them, both hearing the words without either having to give voice to them. “And if you ever decide to disappear for a few days, Joe and I will both remain carefully unaware that you are going to visit Booker.”</p><p>She closed her eyes, some of the tension leaving her body. “I’ve been a shitty friend,” she murmured.</p><p>An all-too-familiar anger at Booker rose up, but he pushed it aside. In this moment, it would not help either of them. “You are the sister of my heart,” he said quietly, rubbing soothing circles into her back. “That did not change because you were in pain.”</p><p>This time, her breath was not nearly as steady as it had once been. “I didn’t even have the right to be in pain,” she said finally. “If it had been Joe who’d gone into the water, you never would have stopped looking.”</p><p>It was Nicky’s greatest nightmare, the source of more terror over the last 900 years than the worst tortures he had experienced himself. Joe often said that Nicky’s heart overflowed with kindness, but he honestly did not know how much would be left of him if Joe experienced his final death first. To lose him in this way, knowing that he was still experiencing such suffering… “No,” he whispered, voice rough. “I am not as good a person as you are.”</p><p>That surprised her out of her pain, making her turn enough to slant him a disbelieving look. After a heartbeat, it softened into something far more tender than she would ever be comfortable admitting to out loud. “Bullshit,” she said softly, straightening. “You’re the best person I’ve ever known, Nicolo di Genova.”</p><p>He smiled at her sadly. “You stopped looking for Quynh because you knew you were responsible for others.” She had been afraid she was being too reckless with his and Joe’s lives, and they had refused to leave her to the desperate quest alone. They had loved Quynh, too. “Because you knew there was more work to be done.” Her hand was still on the railing, and he covered it with his own. “It was noble, and brave. I could not have been so strong.”</p><p>She just watched him for a long moment, a new understanding of the last 500 years settling into her eyes. It would not be enough to erase the pain, or the guilt, but Nicky could no longer bear to let truths go unspoken between them. He had not been born with a great love <em>or</em> an older sister, but immortality had given him both.</p><p>The fact that he would lose her, as he would eventually lose Joe, did not change that.</p><p>Finally, she covered the hand holding hers with her other one. “Even if Nile needed you?” she said softly, gaze locked with his.</p><p>Nicky swallowed. “I would be broken.”</p><p>Andy squeezed his hand. “Booker and I might have understood each other’s grief, but I wouldn’t have made it these last 500 years without you and Joe,” she murmured, voice rough. “Even after Booker comes back, Nile’s going to need you both as much as I do. And if the worst happens…” She lifted his hand, pressing a kiss against the back of it. “Part of one of you is still better than a lot of people get in this world. Let her have that.” She let out a shaky breath. “For me.”</p><p>Nicky’s eyes filled. “This is cheating,” he breathed, pulling her into a hug and holding on tightly. “I did not come out here expecting to cry.”</p><p>She held on just as tight. “Well, I’m certainly not going to cry,” she managed, voice thick. “So it has to be you.”</p><p>Over her shoulder, he saw Joe standing in the open doorway. He was already crying as much as Nicky was, which meant he’d overheard at least part of their conversation. His love had never been good at sparing himself pain.</p><p>Now, he made sure there was lightness in his voice. “You are just in time,” he told him. “I have made sure she can’t run.”</p><p>Andy’s brief, mock indignant noise died as Joe came up behind her and wrapped his arms around them both, putting her in the middle of a group hug. Then they simply held each other, rocking each other the way you used to comfort a small child.</p><p>After awhile, they heard Andy sniff. “Shit,” she whispered, voice wet now. Nicky could feel tears against his shoulder that he knew didn’t belong to either him or Joe. “Shit shit shit.”</p><p>Joe chuckled, his own voice still wet with tears. “Well said.”</p><p>000</p><p>Later, when Nile woke up to check on everyone, she would find all three of them curled up together fully clothed in Joe and Nicky’s bed. Nile just watched them for a long moment, throat tight as she remembered the days when her younger brother would sneak into her bed whenever he had a nightmare.</p><p>Then, carefully enough not to wake Nicky up, she crawled into the empty space behind Joe. Not bothering to get under the covers, she wrapped her arms around them all and let herself start drifting off. </p><p>Before she was all the way gone, she felt Nicky reach back and brush his thumb over her knuckles. She caught his hand, giving it a quick squeeze she hoped he could translate. </p><p>By the time sleep finally took her, he still hadn't let go. </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Come check out my <a href="https://jennifferwardell.wixsite.com/mybooks">original fiction,</a> my <a href="http://jennifferwardell.blogspot.com">blog,</a> or say hi to me on <a href="http://sanctuaryforalluniverses.tumblr.com">Tumblr</a>!</p></blockquote></div></div>
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